Binance US Is Valued At $4.5B After Raising $200M From Circle

Binance US is valued at $4.5 billion after raising $200 million from Circle as it tries to establish legitimacy in the US as we are reading more in today’s latest Binance news.

Binance US is valued at $4.5 billion thanks to the new fundraise of $200 million which will signify how serious the company is about building out the North American operations. The US subsidiary announced that it managed to raise $200 million from Circle but also from investors such as RRE Ventures and VanEck.

The company called the investment a seed round which is often associated with smaller startups and said that the new money values the exchange at $4.5 billion. Brian Shroder, the CEO of the exchange said that the company will use the funding to speed up the growth of the spot trading platform and will launch new products and services but also pursue acquisitions. All of this came at a time when the parent company of Binance.US is trying to win the trust of governments and regulators worldwide which accused the company of skirting KYC laws and turning a blind eye to suspicious trading practices.

A part of the effort entailed hiring former tax and law enforcement agents from the financial and tech world like their recent hire from Microsoft. The stakes are high in the US where Binance is under investigation by the US DOJ, the SEC, and other regulators. This could explain the company’s decision to hire Shorder who was a former Uber executive to lead the US operations. The diving line between the parent company and the US branch has been quite blurry and in 2020, Forbes published evidence to suggest the goal of the subsidiary which was to divert regulators’ attention from the fact that the Americans are trading on loosely-regulated global platforms.

With the hire of Shroder and the new seed round, the exchange could be turning a new page. Both entities can operate as legal entities and Shroder added:

 “CZ is the founder and Chairman of both companies. Binance.US’s management team and I are responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations, decision-making, and overall business strategy.”

The biggest challenge for the exchange is to be attracting a market share in a market dominated by Coinbase. According to CoinGecko, the 24-hour spot market trading for Binance was around one-tenth of the one of Coinbase but the volume was third overall and ahead of FTX. According to Shroder, Binance.US already made some inroads with little marketing and expects to ramp up the efforts after the new funding round.

“We also believe that our platform has inherent competitive advantages – including low fees and a more sophisticated trading experience – which will continue to attract both retail and institutional customers.”